How to connect 2012 MacBook Pro to USB-C docking station
February 8, 2020 12:35 PM Subscribe
I have this MacBook Pro, which has a Mini Displayport. It currently runs Ubuntu 18 LTS. I have this Dell docking station, which has a USB-C connector. Is there an adapter I can get that will let me plug in my old MacBook to the Dell docking station and use the two monitors connected to it? Is this even possible? I know the MacBook won't get power from the USB-C connector, I just want it to drive the monitors.
Doubtful with the mini-DP connector, at least. Assuming this is the correct machine, that's a Thunderbolt 1.0 port masquerading as a DisplayPort; it doesn't carry USB signaling over it like the Thunderbolt 3/USB-C port does. (It doesn't look like the Dell dock is a Thunderbolt dock of any sort either; it's just USB-C, which can run DisplayPort over it. It's confusing.) So, the mini-DP port is either Thunderbolt or display. Looking at it, your dock is almost certainly not a Thunderbolt-enabled device, so using that port is probably not going to be workable as you'd now have to get the Thunderbolt output to something that can encapsulate the video signal and provide USB 3 and shove that over USB-C and yadda yadda yadda.
However, one thing to try would be just hooking it in with one of the normal USB ports. They're USB 3 on that computer, so you'll need a type-A to type-C adapter or cable, but it should plug in. I would wager that at least one of the display outputs on there is hooked in via a USB display adapter - something like those provided by the DisplayLink company - and is not using the DisplayPort-over-USB/Thunderbolt that's also there. A lot of just-USB-C docks do that, where some of the outputs are via the computer and some are via a DisplayLink chip in the dock. (If you plug it in and nothing lights up, try to check the USB bus - lsusb comes to mind but how specifically you do that depends on how Linux-savvy you are. It will literally have an entry for DisplayLink in there if it does indeed have one of those chips. You may need to install their drivers.)
It's also somewhat possible that the dock really does use just the display portion of the USB-C connection for all the display outputs (and as such only some will work at a time if you have more than one screen connected). I would be somewhat surprised by that but it's a possibility, at least. That said, getting an adapter and plugging it in won't break anything, and worst case is you end up with a USB 3 type-A to type-C cable or adapter, which will probably come in handy.
posted by mrg at 2:37 PM on February 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
However, one thing to try would be just hooking it in with one of the normal USB ports. They're USB 3 on that computer, so you'll need a type-A to type-C adapter or cable, but it should plug in. I would wager that at least one of the display outputs on there is hooked in via a USB display adapter - something like those provided by the DisplayLink company - and is not using the DisplayPort-over-USB/Thunderbolt that's also there. A lot of just-USB-C docks do that, where some of the outputs are via the computer and some are via a DisplayLink chip in the dock. (If you plug it in and nothing lights up, try to check the USB bus - lsusb comes to mind but how specifically you do that depends on how Linux-savvy you are. It will literally have an entry for DisplayLink in there if it does indeed have one of those chips. You may need to install their drivers.)
It's also somewhat possible that the dock really does use just the display portion of the USB-C connection for all the display outputs (and as such only some will work at a time if you have more than one screen connected). I would be somewhat surprised by that but it's a possibility, at least. That said, getting an adapter and plugging it in won't break anything, and worst case is you end up with a USB 3 type-A to type-C cable or adapter, which will probably come in handy.
posted by mrg at 2:37 PM on February 8, 2020 [2 favorites]
We have those docking stations at work. They depend on the direct USB-C connection for the express forwarding to the video outputs. I don't think you can connect A-to-C and get that activity, or get the video via any other USB input. Sorry.
posted by nickggully at 3:07 PM on February 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by nickggully at 3:07 PM on February 8, 2020 [1 favorite]
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Linux can only initialise the Thunderbolt devices at boot up and can't handle sleep/resume because of Apple blackboxes to control that hardware.
Buy the cable, reboot the MacBook Pro with it connected and see if the displays show up in Ubuntu. It's possible they will but might have limited bandwidth so may be lower resolution or jerky.
posted by k3ninho at 1:08 PM on February 8, 2020